Learning About Our Life
by TheoreticalReader-Writer
Summary: I have seen alot of reading the books stories, but only one for this series. This is a reading the books story with important characters from the Caster Chronicles/Beautiful Creatures series. This is the first book. Read on...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: i don't own anything in bold print but the AN and the letter in chapter 1. That all belongs to Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This is my first story, and I hope everyone likes it. Review please.**

If Ethan was perfectly honest with himself, he had no clue what was going on. After catching his girlfriend dancing with another guy last night he was tired of weird and crazy, but Fate seemed to hate him. The last thing he remembers is falling asleep in his bed, now he was in a large room with a large oak table and all the important people in his life and some not so important people. He could see Link, Amma, Macon Ravenwood, Ridley, John Breed (Ethan had to swallow his anger at the guy who was succeeding in messing up Ethan's relationship.), and her. The girl he loved so much that it hurt him physically. Lena, it was painful to even look at her. A bright flash suddenly blinded Ethan, a folded up paper and a stack of books appeared on the table.

Everyone proceeded to stare at the books in wonderment. Macon Ravenwood, the only one not shocked by books that appeared as if by magic, walked forward and picked up the paper. Macon read over the paper in his head. Ethan watched as emotions flitted over Macon's face. Shock. Then something akin to fear. Finally a forced calm look. Macon started to read the paper aloud.

"**People of the Past:**

** These books and this letter are all from the future. They come from a time with few worries, but if the right decisions are not made, we fear that everyone will be in grave danger. By sending you these books we are ensuring that you will all have a better future. No one can leave this room until the books are read. Also your powers (If you have any), have been taken away. **

**-Friends **

"So that's it?" Ethan heard John ask in a scathing tone. "We're supposed to believe that we have friends that would send us books from the future about _our_ lives." Ridley added. Macon sighed in exasperation. "We have no other choice, but to read this book. There is no way out, and even if we still had our powers, I am doubtful we could make an exit." Amma decided to speak up, "I don't like this Macon." "I do not like this either, Amarie. Whoever can take away our powers and lock us in this room has exceptional skill."

Link shot a disturbed look at everyone "Who cares about your powers?! We have to read! This is horrible." Link looked towards Ethan "I told you man. Messing with this whole Caster thing was a bad idea." Ethan almost laughed, but then he remembered who he shared this predicament with and his mood soured.

To break the tension in the room, Macon looked around at everyone including Lena ,who had been quietly stading next to John and Ridley, "Shall we read?"

**AN2: Just my start.. It can only get better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I forgot to mention this, it was sorta stated in the story, but this takes place during Beautiful Darkness the day after everyone was down in the tunnels and Ethan almost kissed Liv. Also the seating arrangement: Macon is at the head of the table, and Amma is opposite him. To the left of Macon is Link then Ethan then Liv. To the right of Macon is Ridley then Lena then John. I don't own anything in the bold except for the ANs.**

Right after Macon picked up what appeared to be the first book, another bright flash occurred and Liv fell into the chair next to Ethan. "What just happened?" Ethan explained the situation to Liv."Finally, I will understand what's wrong with you two." Ethan laughed, but Link shouted "Hey!" Macon drowned out any future argument by starting to read.

**"There were only two kinds of people in our town. "The stupid and the stuck," my father had affectionately classified our neighbors. "The ones who are bound to stay or too dumb to go. Everyone else finds a way out." There was no question which one he was, but I'd never had the courage to ask why. My father was a writer, and we lived in Gatlin, South Carolina, because the Wates always had, since my great-great-great-great-granddad, Ellis Wate, fought and died on the other side of the Santee River during the Civil War.**

** Only folks down here didn't call it the Civil War. Everyone under the age of sixty called it the War Between the States, while everyone over sixty called it the War of Northern Aggression, as if somehow the North had baited the South into war over a bad bale of cotton. Everyone, that is, except my family. We called it the Civil War." "**So your family has always been weird, boyfriend?" Ridley remarked. "Not as weird as yours." Ethan bit back.

** "Just another reason I couldn't wait to get out of here.**

**Gatlin wasn't like the small towns you saw in the movies, unless it was a movie from about fifty years ago. We were too far from Charleston to have a Starbucks or a McDonald's. All we had was a Dar-ee Keen, since the Gentrys were too cheap to buy all new letters when they bought the Dairy King."**

"I always wondered why it was called that." Liv commented. Lena shot her a look that said "You didn't know because you don't belong here."** "The library still had a card catalog, the high school still had chalkboards, and our community pool was Lake Moultrie, warm brown water and all. You could see a movie at the Cineplex about the same time it came out on DVD, but you had to hitch a ride over to Summerville, by the community college. The shops were on Main, the good houses were on River, and everyone else lived south of Route 9, where the pavement disintegrated into chunky concrete stubble—terrible for walking, but perfect for throwing at angry possums, the meanest animals alive."**

** "**What are possums?" Liv asked. Link was about to tell her, but Macon gave him a look that stopped Link from even replying. Satisfied that his implied threat worked, Macon continued to read.

"**You never saw that in the movies.**

**Gatlin wasn't a complicated place; Gatlin was Gatlin. The neighbors kept watch from their porches in the unbearable heat, sweltering in plain sight. But there was no point. Nothing ever changed. Tomorrow would be the first day of school, my sophomore year at Stonewall Jackson High, and I already knew everything that was going to happen— where I would sit, who I would talk to, the jokes, the girls, who would park where." **At the mention of the girls, Lena almost growled.

**"There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.**

**At least, that's what I thought, when I closed my battered copy of Slaughterhouse-Five, clicked off my iPod, and turned out the light on the last night of summer.**

** Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a curse.**

**There was a girl." **Most of the people looked at Lena, but when she met their stares they all looked away.

**"And in the end, there was a grave." **They looked at Macon.

**I never even saw it coming.**

Macon handed the book to Link.

**AN2: Already started work on the real Chapter 1. Hope you guys like this. Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary. I will continue to write no matter what.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Again I own noting in bold except my ANs, I will have more things for the characters to say in future chapters when stuff actually happens. Please review, it would honestly make my day. I realized earlier when I was reading my first chapter again that Macon would be dead at this time and that people should have a bigger reaction to him, so until I revise my first chapter you can all just assume that they had their big reunion before Ethan came to.**

Link looked like he wanted to protest having to read this early on, but the expression on Amma's face scared him.

**"Falling. **

**I was free falling, tumbling through the air. **

**"Ethan!" **

**She called to me, and just the sound of her voice made my heart race." **

Lena bit her lip thinking of all the nights they had shared dreams.

**""Help me!" **

**She was falling, too. I stretched out my arm, trying to catch her. I reached out, but all I **

**caught was air. There was no ground beneath my feet, and I was clawing at mud. We **

**touched fingertips and I saw green sparks in the darkness. **

**Then she slipped through my fingers, and all I could feel was loss. **

**Lemons and rosemary. I could smell her, even then." **

"I told you that you stink, cuz." Ridley tried to make a joke, but her cousin didn't seem to be in the same world as everyone else.

**"But I couldn't catch her. **

**And I couldn't live without her." **

Liv almost laughed bitterly at that, "Of course not." She thought.

**I sat up with a jerk, trying to catch my breath. **

**"Ethan Wate! Wake up! I won't have you bein' late on the first day a school." I could **

**hear Amma's voice calling from downstairs. **

**My eyes focused on a patch of dim light in the darkness. I could hear the distant drum of **

**the rain against our old plantation shutters. It must be raining. It must be morning. I must **

**be in my room. **

**My room was hot and damp, from the rain. Why was my window open? **

Ethan turned his face to Macon as if daring him to answer the question.

**My head was throbbing. I fell back down on the bed, and the dream receded as it always **

**did. I was safe in my room, in our ancient house, in the same creaking mahogany bed **

**where six generations of Wates had probably slept before me, where people didn't fall **

**through black holes made of mud, and nothing ever actually happened. **

**I stared up at my plaster ceiling, painted the color of the sky to keep the carpenter bees **

**from nesting. What was wrong with me? **

"I'm still wondering about the answer to that question." Liv whispered to Ethan. Lena watched them and gripped her chair arm tighter.

**"I'd been having the dream for months now. Even though I couldn't remember all of it, the **

**part I remembered was always the same. The girl was falling. I was falling. I had to hold **

**on, but I couldn't. If I let go, something terrible would happen to her. But that's the thing. **

**I couldn't let go. I couldn't lose her. It was like I was in love with her, even though I **

**didn't know her. Kind of like love before first sight."**

Ethan and Lena both looked at each other at the same time. They continued to stare until Lena looked away.

**"Which seemed crazy because she was just a girl in a dream. I didn't even know what she **

**looked like. I had been having the dream for months, but in all that time I had never seen **

**her face, or I couldn't remember it. All I knew was that I had the same sick feeling inside **

**every time I lost her. She slipped through my fingers, and my stomach dropped right out of me—the way you feel when you're on a roller coaster and the car takes a big drop. **

**Butterflies in your stomach. That was such a crappy metaphor. More like killer bees." **"Killer bees? Are there really such a thing, Ethan?" Liv asked. Ethan laughed at the way she asked, and Lena glared at the table.

**"Maybe I was losing it, or maybe I just needed a shower. My earphones were still around **

**my neck, and when I glanced down at my iPod, I saw a song I didn't recognize. **

**Sixteen Moons. **

**What was that? I clicked on it. The melody was haunting. I couldn't place the voice, but I felt like I'd heard it before. **

Sixteen moons, sixteen years

Sixteen of your deepest fears

Sixteen times you dreamed my tears

Falling, falling through the years…"

Ethan thought about all the verses of the song he had heard since then. He shivered.

**"It was moody, creepy—almost hypnotic. **

**"Ethan Lawson Wate!" I could hear Amma calling up over the music. **

**I switched it off and sat up in bed, yanking back the covers. My sheets felt like they were **

**full of sand, but I knew better. **

**It was dirt. And my fingernails were caked with black mud, just like the last time I had **

**the dream. **

**I crumpled up the sheet, pushing it down in the hamper under yesterday's sweaty practice **

**jersey. I got in the shower " "**Not an image I needed." Link joked.

**"and tried to forget about it as I scrubbed my hands, and the last **

**black bits of my dream disappeared down the drain. If I didn't think about it, it wasn't **

**happening. That was my approach to most things the past few months. **

**But not when it came to her. I couldn't help it. I always thought about her. I kept comingback to that same dream, even though I couldn't explain it. So that was my secret, all there was to tell. I was sixteen years old, I was falling in love with a girl who didn't exist, and I was slowly losing my mind. **

**No matter how hard I scrubbed, I couldn't get my heart to stop pounding. And over the **

**smell of the Ivory soap and the Stop & Shop shampoo, I could still smell it. Just barely, **

**but I knew it was there. **

**Lemons and rosemary. **

**I came downstairs to the reassuring sameness of everything. At the breakfast table, **

**Amma slid the same old blue and white china plate—Dragonware, my mom had called it—of fried eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and grits in front of me. Amma was our **

**housekeeper, more like my grandmother, except she was smarter and more ornery than **

**my real grandmother. Amma had practically raised me, and she felt it was her personal **

**mission to grow me another foot or so, even though I was already 6'2". This morning I **

**was strangely starving, like I hadn't eaten in a week. I shoveled an egg and two pieces of bacon off my plate, feeling better already. I grinned at her with my mouth full. **

**"Don't hold out on me, Amma. It's the first day of school." She slammed a giant glass of OJ and a bigger one of milk—whole milk, the only kind we drink around here—in front of me." **

**"**That's what you eat?" Liv questioned. Amma answered for Ethan, "He's a growing boy, he ought to eat more, not that he needs to be any bigger."

**""We out of chocolate milk?" I drank chocolate milk the way some people drank Coke or **

**coffee. Even in the morning, I was always looking for my next sugar fix. **

**"A. C. C. L. I. M. A. T. E." Amma had a crossword for everything, the bigger the better, **

**and liked to use them. The way she spelled the words out on you letter by letter, it felt **

**like she was paddling you in the head, every time. "As in, get used to it. And don't you **

**think about settin' one foot out that door till you drink the milk I gave you." **

**"Yes, ma'am."" **

**"**Intelligent boy. One thing I've learned from dealing with Amma is to be respectful." Macon commented on Ethan's respect.

**""I see you dressed up." I hadn't. I was wearing jeans and a faded T-shirt, like I did most days. They all said different things; today it was Harley Davidson. And the same black **

**Chuck Taylors I'd had going on three years now. **

**"I thought you were gonna cut that hair." She said it like a scolding, but I recognized it **

**for what it really was: plain old affection. **

**"When did I say that?" **

**"Don't you know the eyes are the windows to the soul?" **

**"Maybe I don't want anyone to have a window into mine." **

**Amma punished me with another plate of bacon. She was barely five feet tall and **

**probably even older than the Dragonware, though every birthday she insisted she was **

**turning fifty-three. But Amma was anything but a mild-mannered old lady. She was the absolute authority in my house." **

**"**Ethan Lawson Wate! Don't you know no better than to talk about a woman's age?" The look Amma was giving Ethan made him feel as if he was five again and being scolded for spoiling his dinner with candy.

**""Well, don't think you're goin' out in this weather with wet hair. I don't like how this **

**storm feels. Like somethin' bad's been kicked up into the wind, and there's no stoppin' a **

**day like that. It has a will a its own." **

**I rolled my eyes. Amma had her own way of thinking about things. When she was in one of these moods, my mom used to call it going dark—religion and superstition all mixedup, like it can only be in the South. When Amma went dark, it was just better to stay out of her way. Just like it was better to leave her charms on the windowsills and the dolls she made in the drawers where she put them. **

**I scooped up another forkful of egg and finished the breakfast of champions—eggs, **

**freezer jam, and bacon, all smashed into a toast sandwich. As I shoved it into my mouth, **

**I glanced down the hallway out of habit. My dad's study door was already shut. My dad wrote at night and slept on the old sofa in his study all day. It had been like that since my mom died last April." **At the mention of his mom Ethan smiled sadly and Macon quickly hid his wince. "**He might as well be a vampire; that's what my Aunt Caroline had said after she stayed with us that spring. I had probably missed my chance to see him until tomorrow. There was no opening that door once it was closed. **

**I heard a honk from the street. Link. I grabbed my ratty black backpack and ran out the **

**door into the rain. It could have been seven at night as easily as seven in the morning, **

**that's how dark the sky was. The weather had been weird for a few days now." **

Lena thought about the time she made it snow as a peace offering to Ethan. She would have to read and listen to some of the best and most painful memoriesof her life.

**"Link's car, the Beater, was in the street, motor sputtering, music blasting. I'd ridden to **

**school with Link every day since kindergarten, when we became best friends after he **

**gave me half his Twinkie on the bus. I only found out later it had fallen on the floor." **

Link and Ethan fist bumped, and Liv had to hold in her laughter.

**"Even though we had both gotten our licenses this summer, Link was the one with the car, **

**if you could call it that. **

**At least the Beater's engine was drowning out the storm. **

**Amma stood on the porch, her arms crossed disapprovingly. "Don't you play that loud **

**music here, Wesley Jefferson Lincoln. Don't think I won't call your mamma and tell her **

**what you were doin' in the basement all summer when you were nine years old." **

**Link winced. Not many people called him by his real name, except his mother and **

**Amma. "Yes, ma'am." The screen door slammed. He laughed, spinning his tires on the **

**wet asphalt as we pulled away from the curb. Like we were making a getaway, which **

**was pretty much how he always drove. Except we never got away. **

**"What did you do in my basement when you were nine years old?" **

**"What didn't I do in your basement when I was nine years old?"" **

"Are you ever going to tell me what you did?" Link didn't even answer he just continued to read.

** "Link turned down themusic, which was good, because it was terrible and he was about to ask me how I liked it, **

**like he did every day. The tragedy of his band, Who Shot Lincoln, was that none of them **

**could actually play an instrument or sing. But all he could talk about was playing the **

**drums and moving to New York after graduation and record deals that would probably **

**never happen. And by probably, I mean he was more likely to sink a three-pointer, **

**blindfolded and drunk, from the parking lot of the gym." **

**"**We weren't that bad, right?" Link asked looking wounded. "Nah. I was just jealous." Ethan replied trying not to laugh. "Course ya were. I am the best." Link's arrogance spoke up.

**"Link wasn't about to go to college, but he still had one up on me. He knew what he **

**wanted to do, even if it was a long shot. All I had was a whole shoebox full of college **

**brochures I couldn't show my dad. I didn't care which colleges they were, as long as they **

**were at least a thousand miles from Gatlin. **

**I didn't want to end up like my dad, living in the same house, in the same small town I'd **

**grown up in, with the same people who had never dreamed their way out of here. **

**On either side of us, dripping old Victorians lined the street, almost the same as the day **

**they were built over a hundred years ago. My street was called Cotton Bend because **

**these old houses used to back up to miles and miles of plantation cotton fields. Now they **

**just backed up to Route 9, which was about the only thing that had changed around here. **

**I grabbed a stale doughnut from the box on the floor of the car. "Did you upload a weird song onto my iPod last night?" **

**"What song? What do you think a this one?" Link turned up his latest demo track.**

**"I think it needs work. Like all your other songs." It was the same thing I said every day, more or less. **

**"Yeah, well, your face will need some work after I give you a good beatin'." It was the **

**same thing he said every day, more or less. **

**I flipped through my playlist. "The song, I think it was called something like Sixteen **

**Moons." **

**"Don't know what you're talkin' about." It wasn't there. The song was gone, but I had **

**just listened to it this morning. And I knew I hadn't imagined it because it was still stuck in my head. **

**"If you wanna hear a song, I'll play you a new one." Link looked down to cue the track. **

**"Hey, man, keep your eyes on the road." **

**But he didn't look up, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a strange car pass in front of **

**us…. **

**For a second, the sounds of the road and the rain and Link dissolved into silence, and it was like everything was moving in slow motion. I couldn't drag my eyes away from the **

**car. It was just a feeling, not anything I could describe. And then it slid past us, turning **

**the other way. **

**I didn't recognize the car. I had never seen it before. You can't imagine how impossible **

**that is, because I knew every single car in town. There were no tourists this time of year. **

**They wouldn't take the chance during hurricane season. **

**This car was long and black, like a hearse. Actually, I was pretty sure it was a hearse. **

**Maybe it was an omen. Maybe this year was going to be worse than I thought. **

**"**I curse the day that girl came inta this town." Amma muttered where no one could hear.

**""Here it is. 'Black Bandanna.' This song's gonna make me a star." **

**By the time he looked up, the car was gone."**

Link laid the book down, and cleared his throat. " , I believe it is your turn." Macon stated nodding towards the book. Ethan huffed he didn't want to read this stupid book about his life. He angrily snatched up the book and turned to the page.

**AN2:It will get more exciting soon. Review and Favorite/Follow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I know it's been a month since i updated, but i wanted to see if i could get more than one review before i posted this one. You know the drill everything in bold is Kami Garcia's and Margaret Stohl's except the AN. Thanks for reading.**

Ethan held the book in his hands. He looked as if he was trying to set it on fire. He started to read.

**"Eight streets. That's how far we had to go to get from Cotton Bend to Jackson High. **

**Turns out I could relive my entire life, going up and down eight streets, and eight streets **

**were just enough to put a strange black hearse out of your mind. Maybe that's why I **

**didn't mention it to Link." **Link and Ethan both started thinking of all the memories they made on those looked at them worried. "Ethan!" Liv called out trying to get his attention after a few moments. "Yeah?" Ethan's head snapped towards Liv. "Read." She said. Ethan looked down embarrassed and then started to read.

**"We passed the Stop & Shop, otherwise known as the Stop & Steal. It was the only **

**grocery store in town, and the closest thing we had to a 7-Eleven. So every time you were **

**hanging out with your friends out front, you had to hope you weren't going to run into **

**someone's mom shopping for dinner, or worse, Amma." **"Ethan Lawson Wate! How am I worse than any of those other women in this here town?" Ethan decided it was better for his health if he didn't answer the question.

**"I noticed the familiar Grand Prix parked out front. "Uh-oh. Fatty's camped out already." **

**He was sitting in the driver's seat, reading The Stars and Stripes. **

**"Maybe he didn't see us." Link was watching the rearview mirror, tense. **

**"Maybe we're screwed." **

**Fatty was Stonewall Jackson High School's truant officer, as well as a proud member of **

**the Gatlin police force. His girlfriend, Amanda, worked at the Stop & Steal, and Fatty **

**was parked out front most mornings, waiting for the baked goods to be delivered." **"Absolutely deplorable the people who inhabit this dump of a town." Macon put in his opinion.

**"Which was pretty inconvenient if you were always late, like Link and me."**

Amma sent the boys a look that made them feel as if they had just doomed the entire world.

** "You couldn't go to Jackson High without knowing Fatty's routine as well as your ownclass schedule. Today, Fatty waved us on, without even looking up from the sports **

**section. He was giving us a pass." **Liv looked at Link. "Maybe if someone punished you for being late you'd be more punctual." Link opened his mouth to say something, but Ethan started reading to save his friend from saying something that would get him into trouble with Amma.

**""Sports section and a sticky bun. Know what that means." **

**"We've got five minutes." **

**We rolled the Beater into the school parking lot in neutral, hoping to slink past the **

**attendance office unnoticed. But it was still pouring outside, so by the time we got into **

**the building, we were soaked and our sneakers were squeaking so loud we might as well **

**have just stopped in there anyway. **

**"Ethan Wate! Wesley Lincoln!" **

**We stood dripping in the office, waiting for our detention slips." **"Detention on the first day? Is that a record?" LIv teased.

**""Late for the first day a school. Your mamma is goin' to have a few choice words for **

**you, Mr. Lincoln. And don't you look so smug, Mr. Wate. Amma's gonna tan your hide."" **"Darn right I will. No boy of mine is going to get in trouble his first day and get off scot free."

**"Miss Hester was right. Amma would know I'd shown up late about five minutes from **

**now, if she didn't already. That's what it was like around here. My mom used to say **

**Carlton Eaton, the postmaster, read any letter that looked half-interesting. **

"Really? Is there not a law against that here?' Liv asked. John whispered something to Lena making her slightly smile. Ethan stopped his answer and just continued to read gripping the book even tighter.

** "He didn't even bother to seal them back up anymore. It's not like there was any actual news. Every **

**house had its secrets, but everyone on the street knew them. Even that was no secret. **

**"Miss Hester, I was just drivin' slow, on account a the rain." Link tried to turn on the **

**charm.**

** Miss Hester pulled down her glasses a little and looked back at Link, un-charmed. **

**The little chain that held her glasses around her neck swung back and forth. **

**"I don't have time to chat with you boys right now. I'm busy fillin' out your detention **

**slips, which is where you'll be spendin' this afternoon," she said, as she handed each of **

**us our blue slip. **

**She was busy all right. You could smell the nail polish before we even turned the corner. **

**Welcome back. **

**In Gatlin, the first day of school never really changes. The teachers, who all knew you **

**from church, decided if you were stupid or smart by the time you were in kindergarten. I was smart because my parents were professors. Link was stupid, because he crunched up **

**the pages of the Good Book during Scripture Chase, and threw up once during the Christmas pageant."**

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't know the cookies were old." Link tried to explain.

**Because I was smart, I got good grades on my papers; because Link **

**was stupid, he got bad ones. I guess nobody bothered to read them. Sometimes I wrote random stuff in the middle of my essays, just to see if my teachers would say anything. **

**No one ever did. **

**Unfortunately, the same principle didn't apply to multiple-choice tests. In first-period English, I discovered my seven hundred-year-old teacher, whose name really was Mrs. English, had expected us to read To Kill a Mockingbird over the summer, so I flunked the first quiz.**

**Great. I had read the book about two years ago. It was one of my mom's **

**favorites, but that was a while ago and I was fuzzy on the details. **

**A little-known fact about me: I read all the time.**

"Why do people not know you like to read?' Liv lilted. "If this book doesn't explain it, I will." Ethan replied. Lena thought about the moment he revealed his reading habits to her.

**"Books were the one thing that got me out of Gatlin, even if it was only for a little while. I had a map on my wall, and every time I read about a place I wanted to go, I marked it on the map. New York was Catcherin the Rye. Into the Wild got me to Alaska. When I read On the Road, I added Chicago, Denver, L.A., and Mexico City. Kerouac could get you pretty much everywhere.**

**Every few months, I drew a line to connect the marks. A thin green line I'd follow on a road trip, the summer before college, if I ever got out of this town. I kept the map and the reading thing to myself. Around here, books and basketball didn't mix. **

**Chemistry wasn't much better. Mr. Hollenback doomed me to be lab partners with Ethan-Hating Emily, also known as Emily Asher, who had despised me ever since the formal last year, when I made the mistake of wearing my Chuck Taylors with my tux and letting my dad drive us in the rusty Volvo. The one broken window that permanently wouldn't **

**roll up had destroyed her perfectly curled blond prom-hair, and by the time we got to the **

**gym she looked like Marie Antoinette with bedhead. **

"Hate to make fun of your little friend, Short Straw, but she looks like that most of the time." Ridley snipped.

**Emily didn't speak to me for the rest of the night and sent Savannah Snow to dump me three steps from the punch bowl. That **

**was pretty much the end of that. **

**It was a never-ending source of amusement for the guys, who kept expecting us to get **

**back together. The thing they didn't know was, I wasn't into girls like Emily. She was **

**pretty, but that was it. And looking at her didn't make up for having to listen to what **

**came out of her mouth. I wanted someone different, someone I could talk to about **

**something other than parties and getting crowned at winter formal. A girl who was smart, **

**or funny, or at least a decent lab partner. **

Ethan grit his teeth. He had that girl, the girl of his dreams, literally. Then everything fell apart. Ethan glanced across the table and saw John staring at Lena. Everything went red, Ethan slammed the book onto the table and Lena flinched. "Ethan Wate!" Amma sounded scandalized. "No, Amma. What gives anyone the right to read about my life? It's my life!" A golden flash appeared, but Ethan didn't notice and continued his rant. "Who decides stuff like this anyways?" The two people behind Ethan seemed surprised by the scene. Then one of the people started to laugh, shocking Ethan out of his anger. Ethan turned quickly. Marian was standing next to the guy that was laughing. "Who the hell are you?' Ethan questioned still slightly angry. The guy stopped laughing. "I'm a friend. I was sent here to bring her." He inclined his head to Marian. "May I ask where 'here' is exactly?' Marian addressed the room at large. The guy next to her lifted his hand to stop anyone in the room from responding, and he preceded to explain the situation. After his explanation, Marian was excited to start reading the book. A seat appeared between Ethan and Macon, and the mysterious stranger disappeared. Marian sat down "Ethan, I believe the man said you were reading." Marian stated more than asked. Ethan seemed to be a bit put out after his interrupted raving. Ethan picked up the book and in a dull tone began to read.

**"Maybe a girl like that was the real dream, but a dream was still better than a nightmare. **

**Even if the nightmare was wearing a cheerleading skirt. **

**I survived chemistry, but my day only got worse from there. Apparently, I was takingU.S. History again this year, which was the only history taught at Jackson, making the **

**name redundant. I would be spending my second consecutive year studying the "War of Northern Aggression" with Mr. Lee, no relation. But as we all knew, in spirit Mr. Lee **

**and the famous Confederate general were one and the same. Mr. Lee was one of the few **

**teachers who actually hated me. Last year, on a dare from Link, I had written a paper **

**called "The War of Southern Aggression," and Mr. Lee had given me a D. **

Ethan could practically feel the disapproving look he was getting from Amma.

**"Guess the teachers actually did read the papers sometimes, after all. **

**I found a seat in the back next to Link, who was busy copying notes from whatever class **

**he had slept through before this one. But he stopped writing as soon as I sat down. **

**"Dude, did you hear?" **

**"Hear what?" **

**"There's a new girl at Jackson." **

**"There are a ton of new girls, a whole freshman class of them, moron." **

**"I'm not talkin' about the freshmen. There's a new girl in our class." At any other high school, a new girl in the sophomore class wouldn't be news. But this was Jackson, and **

**we hadn't had a new girl in school since third grade, when Kelly Wix moved in with her grandparents after her dad was arrested for running a gambling operation out of their **

**basement in Lake City. **

Link interrupted Ethan, "Ahh. Kelly Wix. She totally liked me." Ethan looked at Link not willing to believe Link said that. "You realize Kelly used to push you off the swings and steal your pencils?" "She was flirtin' with me." Ethan instinctively made eye contact with Lena and smiled, but when they realized what they were doing they both looked down quickly.

**""Who is she?" **

**"Don't know. I've got civics second period with all the band geeks, and they didn't know **

**anythin' except she plays the violin, or somethin'. Wonder if she's hot." **

Macon looked pained to hear his niece referred to as "hot".

**Link had a one-track mind, like most guys. The difference was, Link's track led directly to his mouth. **

**"So she's a band geek?"" **

"A band geek?!" Lena inquired. "Well as I would not say it so ineloquently, you're music is the best in this town." Macon replied if everyone in the room didn't know better they would've swore Macon was trying not to laugh. Lena smiled "If you say so, Uncle." Ethan took this as his cue to start reading again.

**"No. A musician. Maybe she shares my love a classical music." **

**"Classical music?" The only classical music Link had ever heard was in the dentist's office. **

**"You know, the classics. Pink Floyd. Black Sabbath. The Stones." I started laughing. **

**"Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Wate. I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I'd like to get started if it's a'right with you boys." Mr. Lee's tone was just as sarcastic as last year, and **

**his greasy comb-over and pit stains just as bad. **

All the girls in the room and Macon looked disgusted.

**He passed out copies of the same syllabus **

**he had probably been using for ten years. Participating in an actual Civil War **

**reenactment would be required. Of course it would. I could just borrow a uniform from **

**one of my relatives who participated in reenactments for fun on the weekends. Lucky me. **

**After the bell rang, Link and I hung out in the hall by our lockers, hoping to get a look at **

**the new girl. To hear him talk, she was already his future soul mate and band mate and probably a few other kinds of mates I didn't even want to hear about."**

**"**Wesley Jefferson Lincoln! Corruptin' my boy with that awful talk. Your mother know what you talk 'bout at school?" Link had the decency to look ashamed. Ethan was trying to hide his laughing. "What are you laughin' 'bout? I'm gone have to make sure you two get to church more." Amma reprimanded the boys. "Yes ma'am." Link and Ethan said in unison. Lena smiled down at the table loving the familiarity of the conversation

**"But the only thing we got a look at was too much of Charlotte Chase in a jean skirt two sizes too small. **

**Which meant we weren't going to find out anything until lunch, because our next class **

**\was ASL, American Sign Language, and it was strictly no talking allowed. No one was good enough at signing to even spell "new girl," especially since ASL was the one class **

**we had in common with the rest of the Jackson basketball team. **

**I'd been on the team since eighth grade, when I grew six inches in one summer and ended **

**up at least a head taller than everyone else in my class. Besides, you had to do something normal when both of your parents were professors. It turned out I was good at basketball.**

"_I still don't understand that sport." _Lena kelted without realizing. Ethan looked towards her with wide eyes, and Lena, noticing what she did, gave a small smile.

**"I always seemed to know where the players on the other team were going to pass the ball, **

**and it gave me a place to sit in the cafeteria every day. At Jackson, that was worth **

**something. **

**Today that seat was worth even more because Shawn Bishop, our point guard, had **

**actually seen the new girl. Link asked the only question that mattered to any of them. **

**"So, is she hot?" **

**"Pretty hot.""**

"Is that all guys talk about?" Liv asked. "Only when hot girls are around. And with you here that's all the time." Link jokingly flirted with Liv. Ridley looked as if she wanted to curse Liv into oblivion. "Down boy." Ethan commanded Link. "Can't blame me for trying." Link rocked his chair back on its legs. Ethan shook his head and started reading again.

**""Savannah Snow hot?" **

**As if on cue, Savannah—the standard by which all other girls at Jackson were measured **

**—walked into the cafeteria, arm in arm with Ethan-Hating Emily, and we all watched **

**because Savannah was 5'8" worth of the most perfect legs you've ever seen.**

Ethan felt like he was dying. Why did this have to have his thoughts?

**Emily and Savannah were almost one person, even when they weren't in their cheerleading **

**uniforms. Blond hair, fake tans, flip-flops, and jean skirts so short they could pass for **

**belts. Savannah was the legs, but Emily was the one all the guys tried to get a look at in **

**her bikini top, at the lake in the summer. **

Amma might've had a heart attack if Link hadn't just flipped his chair so that no one had heard the last line. No one tried to help Link up, and Ethan continued reading.

** They never seemed to have any books, just tiny **

**metallic bags tucked under one arm, with barely enough room for a cell phone, for the **

**few occasions when Emily actually stopped texting. **

**Their differences boiled down to their respective positions on the cheer squad. Savannah **

**was the captain, and a base: one of the girls who held up two more tiers of cheerleaders in **

**the Wildcats' famous pyramid. Emily was a flyer, the girl at the top of the pyramid, the **

**one thrown five or six feet into the air to complete a flip or some other crazy cheer stunt **

**that could easily result in a broken neck. Emily would risk anything to stay on top of that **

**pyramid. Savannah didn't need to. When Emily got tossed, the pyramid went on fine **

**without her. When Savannah moved an inch, the whole thing came tumbling down. **

**Ethan-Hating Emily noticed us staring and scowled at me. The guys laughed. Emory **

**Watkins clapped a hand on my back. "In like sin, Wate. You know Emily, the more she glares, the more she cares.""**

**"**What kind of logical thinking is that?" Liv questioned. "This is Gatlin, logic is a sin." Ethan whispered so that Amma wouldn't hear.

**"I didn't want to think about Emily today. I wanted to think about the opposite of Emily. **

**Ever since Link had brought it up in history, it had stuck with me. The new girl. The possibility of someone different, from somewhere different. **

**Maybe someone with a **

**bigger life than ours, and, I guess, mine. **

**Maybe even someone I'd dreamed about. I knew it was a fantasy, but I wanted to believe it. **

**"So did y'all hear about the new girl?" Savannah sat down on Earl Petty's lap. **

**Earl was our team captain and Savannah's on-again, off-again boyfriend. Right now, they were on. **

**He rubbed his hands over her orangey-colored legs, just high enough so you didn't know **

**where to look. **

Amma and Macon looked disgusted, and Link and Ethan started to laugh. "Wesley Lincoln, you and my boy better stop laughin'." "Sorry Amma."

**"Shawn was just fillin' us in. Says she's hot. You gonna put her on the squad?" Link grabbed a couple of Tater Tots off my tray. **

**"Hardly. You should see what she's wearin'." Strike One. **

_"You wanted me to be like them?' _Lena kelted. "_No, I was trying to see if you would survive Gatlin."_ Ethan smiled across the table.

**"And how pale she is." Strike Two. You could never be too thin or too tan, as far as Savannah was sat down next to Emory, leaning over the table just a little too much. "Did he tell **

**you who she is?" **

**"What do you mean?" **

**Emily paused for dramatic effect. **

**"She's Old Man Ravenwood's niece."**

**She didn't need the pause for this one. It was like she had sucked the air right out of the **

**room. A couple of the guys started laughing. They thought she was kidding, but I could tell she wasn't. **

**"**It's nice to know I'm so famous in our little town." Macon commented.

**Strike Three. She was out. So far out, I couldn't even picture her anymore. The **

**possibility of my dream girl showing up disappeared before I could even imagine our first date.**

_"You imagined our first date?" _Ethan decided to be bold and responded with _"A thousand times." _Lena blushed, and Ethan started to read.

**"I was doomed to three more years of Emily Ashers. **

**Macon Melchizedek Ravenwood was the town shut-in. Let's just say, I remembered **

**enough of To Kill a Mockingbird to know Old Man Ravenwood made Boo Radley look **

**like a social butterfly. He lived in a run-down old house, on Gatlin's oldest and most **

**infamous plantation, and I don't think anyone in town had seen him since before I was **

**born, maybe longer. **

**"Are you serious?" asked Link. **

**"Totally. Carlton Eaton told my mom yesterday when he brought by our mail." **

**Savannah nodded. "My mamma heard the same thing. She moved in with Old Man **

**Ravenwood a couple a days ago, from Virginia, or Maryland, I don't remember." **

**They all kept talking about her, her clothes and her hair and her uncle and what a freak she probably was.**

**"**Mortals." Macon spat. Ethan tried not to find this offensive.

**That's the thing I hated most about Gatlin. The way everyone had **

**something to say about everything you said or did or, in this case, wore. I just stared at **

**the noodles on my tray, swimming in runny orange liquid that didn't look much like **

**cheese. **

**Two years, eight months, and counting. I had to get out of this town. **

Ethan looked at Lena as if to say "As long as you're here, I will be here too."

**After school, the gym was being used for cheerleading tryouts. The rain had finally let **

**up, so basketball practice was on the outside court, with its cracked concrete and bent **

**rims and puddles of water from the morning rain. You had to be careful not to hit the **

**fissure that ran down the middle like the Grand Canyon. Aside from that, you could **

**almost see the whole parking lot from the court, and watch most of the prime social **

**action of Jackson High while you warmed up. **

**Today I had the hot hand. I was seven-for-seven from the free throw line, but so was Earl, **

**matching me shot for shot. **

**Swish. Eight. It seemed like I could just look at the net, and the ball would sail through. **

**Some days were like that. **

**Swish. Nine. Earl was annoyed. I could tell by the way he was bouncing the ball harder **

**and harder every time I made a shot. He was our other center. Our unspoken agreement **

**was: I let him be in charge, and he didn't hassle me if I didn't feel like hanging out at the Stop & Steal every day after practice. There were only so many ways you could talk **

**about the same girls and so many Slim Jims you could eat. **

**Swish. Ten. I couldn't miss. Maybe it was just genetics. Maybe it was something else. I **

**hadn't figured it out, but since my mom died, I had stopped trying. It was a wonder I **

**made it to practice at all.**

**Swish. Eleven. Earl grunted behind me, bouncing the ball even harder.**

Lena kelted _"You enjoyed annoying him, didn't you?" _Ethan smirked across the table giving her her answer.

**I tried not to smile **

**and looked over to the parking lot as I took the next shot. I saw a tangle of long black **

**hair, behind the wheel of a long black car. **

**A hearse. I froze. **

**Then, she turned, and through the open window, I could see a girl looking in my **

**direction.**

_"Why were you looking at me, anyways?" Ethan asked. "I didn't believe you actually existed. I thought my dreams were just nightmares."_

**At least, I thought I could. The basketball hit the rim, and bounced off toward **

**the fence. Behind me, I heard the familiar sound. **

**Swish. Twelve. Earl Petty could relax. **

**As the car pulled away, I looked down the court. The rest of the guys were standing there, **

**like they'd just seen a ghost. **

**"Was that—?" **

**Billy Watts, our forward, nodded, holding onto the chain-link fence with one hand. "Old **

**Man Ravenwood's niece." **

**Shawn tossed the ball at him. "Yep. Just like they said. Drivin' his hearse." **

**Emory shook his head. "She's hot all right. What a waste." **

in." Macon didn't know what to be angrier about, those idiots calling his niece a waste or those idiots calling Lena hot.

**They went back to playing ball, but by the time Earl took his next shot, it had started to **

**rain again. Thirty seconds later, we were caught in a downpour, the heaviest rain we'd **

**seen all day. I stood there, letting the rain hammer down on me. My wet hair hung in my **

**eyes, blocking out the rest of the school, the team. **

**The bad omen wasn't just a hearse. It was a girl. **

"I'm a bad omen?" Lena asked aloud, staring at everyone in the room.

**For a few minutes, I had let myself hope. That maybe this year wouldn't be just like **

**every other year, that something would change. That I would have someone to talk to, **

**someone who really got me. **

**But all I had was a good day on the court, and that had never been enough.**

"Wow that was a dramatic ending." Ethan stated.

Macon ignored the comment, "I suppose we should

continue on."

**AN2: REVIEW!**


End file.
